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TO THE HONOURABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED 

STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED— 

THE ME MORIAL ^ * ?*±. 

OF THE 


* 




SUBSCRIBERS, CITIZENS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA, 


Respectfully sheweth:— 

That a very large and important portion of your 
constituents, embracing probably half the population 
of the United States—the growers of grain—the raisers 
of sheep—and the manufacturers of woollen goods, 
are at present in a state of great depression, owing to a 
combination of untoward circumstances. 

In inviting the attention of your honourable bodies to 
the subject of the present memorial, we find it necessary to 
take a retrospective view of the state of the farming interest 
from a remote period, for which we hope the importance 
of the object in view will sufficiently apologize. We shall 
be as brief as the nature of the case will admit. 

For nearly thirty years after the establishment of our 
present form of government, farming was almost uniform¬ 
ly as profitable as it is an honourable and useful occupa¬ 
tion. The industry of the farmer was stimulated and re- 

? warded by brisk markets, and highly liberal prices. It 
was, however, apprehended by our wisest statesmen, that 
a severe reverse would take place, as soon as, by the ces¬ 
sation of war in Europe, the swords of myriads of warlike 
men, who had been wasteful consumers, would be con¬ 
verted into reaping hooks, and those who had wielded 
them, into producers. But dearth in that quarter for two or 
three years, arrested the stroke. In November, 1817, the 
British ports were closed against our bread-stuffs, but 
opened for a short time in 1818. From the latter year, the 
agriculture of Europe has sufficed to feed her population; 
and our bread-stuffs have accordingly been almost wholly 
excluded, whereby the prospects of our farmers have been 
from that time extremely depressed. 

It cannot be improper to present a comparative view of 
the average of our exports of flour, the leading article of 
the farming states, for three several periods, which will 
fully explain the causes, and shed light on the great extent, 
of the depression of the great farming interest. 

Value per Trea - 
Barrels. surers Report. 

Average of 1811, 12, 13, 1,383,149 g 13,980,000 

1817, and 1818, 1,318,437 14,664,173 

1819, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 867,044 4,882,053* 

So very extraordinary a diminution of demand for the 
surplus of the labours of our farmers, and of the value of 
that surplus, while their numbers in the interim had in¬ 
creased probably forty per cent, and their agricultural skill 
in nearly an equal ratio, could not fail to produce intense 
distress. The proceeds of the domestic sales, amounting 
at least to 10,000,000 of barrels of flour per annum, partook 
of the same fate. Other farming productions fell in value 
and demand, in a similar degree. The annual reduction, 
therefore, of the income of the farmers, by the operation 
of the European system of exclusion, could not have fallen 
short of 8 30,000,000. It may be said, that the prices in 
the two first periods were too high. This we freely ad¬ 
mit. But this circumstance affords no alleviation of the 
distress resulting from the diminution of demand and the 
great depreciation, below a price affording an adequate 
remuneration for labour and the employment of capital. 
We cannot forbear lamenting that no attempt was made 
to provide a domestic market, as a substitute for the fo¬ 
reign one, thus ruinously cut off—or any new channel for 
the employment of the capital and industry thus bereft 
of their usual occupation and remuneration. 

It is scarcely possible duly to appreciate the distress 
and ruin produced by this state of things among our far¬ 
mers. Bankruptcy swallowed up a large proportion of 
them. Lands purchased at fair prices, when the European 
ports were open, and on which two and three instalments 
were paid, have been since sacrificed to pay the balance, 
and found inadequate for the purpose. It has been calcu¬ 
lated by men of inquiry, that one-third part of the landed 
property in the grain-growing states, has changed owners 
within the last ten years, through the instrumentality of she¬ 
riffs and marshals; thousands of our citizens, bereft of large 
patrimonial estates, have been exiled from home,to encoun¬ 
ter the discomforts and privations of new settlements in 


*1826 - - - - 857,820 barrels 

To Mexico and S. America - 285,$63 


Value $4,121,466 
1,431,178 


Former markets 


572,257 


$ 2,690,288 


the wilderness. Our lands produce far less than they 
might do—for the stimulus of certain markets and remu¬ 
nerating prices being wanting, husbandry languishes. Nu¬ 
merous cases occur occasionally, of crops remaining un¬ 
threshed for a year after the harvest, for want of demand. 

From this brief view of the depression of the growers 
of grain, we wish to call your attention to a sketch of the 
situation of the growers of wool and the manufacturers of 
woollen goods. 

The restrictive system which began in 1807, and the war 
of 1812, so far diminished foreign supplies of all kinds of 
manufactures—and threw outof employment so large a por¬ 
tion of our commercial capital—that many of our enter¬ 
prising citizens entered with ardour into the pursuit of ma¬ 
nufactures, and among the rest, that of woollens. The de¬ 
mand for wool, of course, greatly increased. Flocks of Me¬ 
rino sheep were purchased, and in many cases at very 
high prices. Before the close of the war the supply of 
woollen goods was nearly equal to the demand ; whereby 
were secured moderate prices, which, but for that circum¬ 
stance, would have risen exorbitantly, as foreign woollens 
were scarce, and supplies precarious. Had the fostering 
care of the government been extended to this manufac¬ 
ture after the war for a few years, it would have arrived at 
a maturity that might have enabled it to stand the shock of 
foreign competition. But the wantof adequate protection— 
the mania for importation—the immoderate quantities of 
rival articles, brought into our markets, from abroad—pros¬ 
trated almostevery man engaged in the business—reduced 
hundreds to poverty—threw thousands of operatives out 
of employment—consigned probably three-fourths of the 
invaluable breed of merino sheep to the slaughter house— 
and placed the nation in nearly the same state of depen¬ 
dence on foreign supplies, as before the war. 

Within the last ten years, the farmers have been several 
times flattered, through the enterprise of the manufacturers 
of woollen goods, with the hope of a revival of the demand 
for wool, which would greatly tend to alleviate their suf¬ 
ferings. Large flocks of sheep have been accordingly 
collected at different periods, at great expense—remune¬ 
rating sales have been made for a year or two—but they 
have been succeeded by a blight and blast, in consequence 
of the market for domestic cloth being destroyed by in¬ 
undations of foreign woollens, sold at the risque and to 
the loss of the exporters, many times for less than cost, 
and sometimes for little more than the cost of the raw ma¬ 
terial. Thus the demand for wool having nearly ceased, 
the sheep have been destroyed by thousands, as their sup¬ 
port became a burden to the proprietors. 

The tariff of 1824 afforded a clear demonstration of two 
important facts—one, that the protection of American 
manufactures and building up an American system, are 
clearly recognized as substantial portions of the policy of 
our national legislature—and the other, that that body 
seriously intended to protect and foster the important 
branches, wool-growing and the manufacture of woollen 
goods. This encouraged our capitalists to enter into both. 
Investments were made in the latter, in buildings, machi¬ 
nery, and materials, to the amount, it is believed, of 
8 50,000,000, and for some time the prospects were truly 
flattering. The number of sheep in the United States has 
been estimated at 15,000,000, which, at two dollars each, 
amount to 8 30,000,000, making an aggregate of 8 80,000, 
000 invested in those two collateral branches. The fleeces 
of the sheep, at 3 pounds each, and at 30 cents per pound, 
would amount annually to $ 13,500,000. 

But it proved in this case, as in many others, that our 
citizens held their prosperity by the very uncertain tenure 
of foreign legislation and foreign fluctuations. In the 
midst of this prosperous career, a tornado burst on both 
the growers and manufacturers of wool. In consequence 
of the calamitous scenes in Great Britain in 1825, immense 
exportations of woollen"goods to this country took place, 
which were, as formerly, sacrificed frequently below cost 
and charges. With such competition, all struggle is un¬ 
availing. The American manufacturer is expelled from 
his own market—his industry prostrated—and he and his 
family are doomed to ruin, unless the extent of his capital 
may enable him to survive the shock, with the sacrifice 
of all his profits and part of that capital. 















The distress in Great Britain and the excessive exporta¬ 
tions of woollens from that country to this, would have 
been sufficient to produce a great depression in the 
woollen branch here. But another cause of depression 
lias been brought into operation. The British government, 
ever wide awake to foster and protect its manufactures, 
reduced the duty on wool from six pence per pound to 
one penny, and to a half penny on wool below Is. per 
pound. Thus, while the American manufacturer pays, in 
some instances, a duty of 20 and 25 cents per pound, the 
British pays but a penny or a halfpenny—whereby nearly 
the whole benefit intended for the American in 1824, is 
done away. 

It is a melancholy truth, which cannot fail to make a 
deep impression on your honourable bodies, that the 
great capital invested in the breed of sheep, and in the 
establishments for woollen manufactures, has, in conse¬ 
quence of the depression of these branches of industry, 
depreciated 30, 40, and in many cases 50 per cent. 

The following facts may enable your honourable bodies 
to form some estimate of the importance of the woollen 
branch. A factory employing 160 hands, (and there are 
probably 50 or 60 such factories in the United States,) 
would consume 100,000 pounds of wool per annum. To 
produce this quantity of wool, would require 35,000 sheep. 
These would occupy 23,000 acres of land, divided into 
115 farms, of 200 acres each; every farm supporting 300 
sheep, and a family of six persons, almost entirely devoted 
to sheep husbandry. It therefore follows, that 50 fac¬ 
tories, each with 160 operatives, give employment to 5750 
families, and a population of 34,500 persons, who cultivate 
1,150,000 acres of land—and it is important to observe 
that land of inferior quality answers well for sheep grazing. 

It is hardly necessary to make any addition to these 
facts. Yet it may be proper to state, that but for this em¬ 
ployment, most of those 34,500 persons, and of the 1,150,000 
acres of land, would probably be employed in raising 
bread-stuffs of various kinds, thus increasing production, 
and the glut of the markets, and depreciating the price of 
those articles, already too low to remunerate the capital 
they employ. 

Some imperfect idea may be formed of the beneficial 
effects of this manufacture on commerce, from the fact, 
that a single woollen manufacturer in Massachusetts con¬ 
sumed last year, notwithstanding the depression of that 
branch, 

100,000 pounds of wool, equal to 50 tons, of which 40 
were imported. 

27 tons of dye wood. 

13 tons of oil. 

2 tons of foreign soap. 

A multiplication of this amount by the number of fac¬ 
tories in the United States, would produce a most interest¬ 
ing result, as regards the mercantile portion of our citi¬ 
zens.—In fact, there cannot be a doubt, that the freights 
of the raw materials for this and other manufactures, give 
full employment to more tonnage than all the dry goods 
imported into this country. 

Your memorialists have learned with great surprise and 
regret, that associations of their fellow citizens have 
taken place in different parts of the southern states, by 
which the power to impose duties on imports is attempted 
to be confined to the mere purposes of revenue—the ex¬ 
ercise of that power for the protection of manufactures is 
denounced as unconstitutional—the operation of such 
duties is declared to be oppressive and unequal, and of 
course unjust—and gloomy predictions are hazarded of 
retaliation, by restrictions and heavy duties on our cotton 
and tobacco, on the part of Qreat Britain, in the event of 
any incr'ease-of duties on manufactures. 

The limits of a memorial forbid much discussion on 
these assumptions, which, we respectfully state, have been 
so often and so fully disproved, that we could not have 
expected to be called on at this late period, to offer any 
arguments against them. We yield, however, to the ne¬ 
cessity of the case, although it is but repeating arguments 
already hackneyed. We shall be very brief; and there¬ 
fore we barely state, that in the first congress, presided over 
by the illustrious Washington, and embracing a number 
of the members of the convention which framed the con¬ 
stitution, who were certainly as well qualified to judge of 
its intent and meaning, as any persons of the present day 
—in that congress, we say, there was not a single excep¬ 
tion alleged to the measure in question, on the ground of 
unconstitutionality. The most highly-gifted members of 
that body not only admitted the right, but in a variety 
of cases powerfully advocated the exercise of it, as far as 
the interests of their particular constituents were concerned. 
Fortunately the debates of that congress are still extant, 


and the speeches of Mr. Madison, Mr. Ames, Mr. Clymer, 
Mr. Fitzsimons, Mr. Carroll, Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Bou- 
dinot, &c. may be consulted on the subject. To this, let us 
respectfully add, that the preamble of the law for imposing 
duties on imports, the second passed by that congress, 
runs, “ Whereas it is necessary for the support of govern¬ 
ment, for the discharge of the debts of the United States, 
and the ENCOURAGEMENT AND PROTECTION 
OF MANUFACTURES, that duties be laid on goods, 
wares, and merchandize imported.” 

We beg leave, with all due respect, to state that these 
facts alone, ought to settle this important question forever. 
But it is to be observed, that other facts, affording unequi¬ 
vocal corroboration of this construction of the constitu¬ 
tion, remain to be stated. This system was distinctly recom¬ 
mended by General Washington, in his speech to congress, 
at an early period of his career as president, and in his 
last speech to that body in 1796. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Ma¬ 
dison, and Mr. Monroe, held the same language in their 
messages. And so late as 1816, Mr. Lowndes, one of the 
most zealous, intrepid, and enlightened advocates of the 
rights and interests of the southern states, asserted the same 
principle clearly and distinctly. We conclude with the 
fact, of equal force with all the rest, that the practice of 
the government from 1789 till 1820, has been uniform on 
the subject, and never, to our knowledge, once questioned 
till 1824, a period of thirty-one years. And what is now 
to overrule this mass of testimony? The very strained 
construction, that bounties and protecting duties, producing 
the same result of fostering manufactures, are identically 
the same—and that the power of congress to grant boun¬ 
ties having been proposed and rejected in convention, pro¬ 
tecting duties were by implication likewise rejected! 
This, we beg leave to state, is fully as illogical as to as¬ 
sert that gypsum, marl, lime, and wood-ashes, are all the 
same substance, because they all serve to manure the soil. 

Duties absolutely prohibitory, were, in 1789, imposed 
on manufactured tobacco and snuff, six cents per lb. on the 
former, and ten cents on the latter. But even these high 
duties were not deemed sufficient to guard the interests of 
the tobacco planter. They were raised in 1794 to twenty- 
two cents on snuff, and ten cents on manufactured tobacco. 
Of these exorbitant duties, imposed, not for the sake 
of revenue, but avowedly for the exclusion of those arti¬ 
cles, and to secure to the tobacco planter the entire mar¬ 
ket of his own country, to the consequent injury of the 
revenue, the manufacturing portion of the nation never 
harboured a thought of complaining. We beg leave fur¬ 
ther to state, that a duty was, in 1789, laid on raw cot¬ 
ton, 150 per cent, higher than the duty on cotton goods, 
to encourage the culture of that raw material; that a duty 
was at the same time laid on indigo, to encourage its cul¬ 
ture, 200 per cent, higher than on the great mass of ma¬ 
nufactured goods; that the duty on brown sugar, an ar¬ 
ticle of great bulk, heavy freight, and in some degree a 
necessary of life to the poorer classes of society, is from 
75 to 100 per cent, which is far higher than any duty on 
manufactured goods, except coarse cottons ; and finally, 
that, for the encouragement of our navigation, the duty 
on teas imported in foreign vessels, was, by the tariff of 
1789,125 per cent, higher than on those imported in Ame¬ 
rican vessels. Various other duties for the protection of 
agriculture and commerce, have been imposed at differ¬ 
ent times during the progress of our government, for the 
details of which we refer to the statute books, and which, 
we repeat, have never been murmured against or complain¬ 
ed of by the manufacturing portion of the nation. 

We respectfully state, that the objection to the imposi¬ 
tion of duties for the protection of manufactures, on the 
ground of their oppressive tendency, and “ taxing the 
many for the benefit of the few,” is equally ill-founded. 
In every case, without a single exception, in which effici¬ 
ent protection has been afforded to American manufac¬ 
tures, the result has been to produce an article superior in 
point of utility, and at a lower price than the import¬ 
ed one. American nails, for instance, subject to a duty of 
80 per cent, are sold 40 per cent, cheaper in Philadelphia 
than in Liverpool. American canvas and window glass are 
cheaper and better than the imported. The same obser¬ 
vation applies to chemical articles generally. Cotton goods 
are 50 per cent, cheaper and 60 per cent, better than were 
the imported articles for which they were substituted 
when the imposition of the square yard duty took place. 
The enumeration might be extended to a great variety of 
other articles, but we deem it unnecessary to enter into 
further detail. 

On the subject of retaliation, we beg leave to observe, 
that as the nations of Europe, because they can supply 
themselves with bread-stuffs, do actually, in order to pro- 





tect their agriculturists, prohibit ours altogether, the cul¬ 
tivation of which forms the chief dependence of 5 or 6,000, 
000 of our population, the threat of retaliation on their 
part, held out by our own citizens, should we judge it pro¬ 
per, not to meet positive exclusion by exclusion, but merely 
to impose additional duties on such articles as ourindustry 
can supply, is truly preposterous. Foreign nations are 
the aggressors. The aggression began and has been con¬ 
tinued for years on their part, without an attempt at reta¬ 
liation on ours. So far as Great Britain is concerned, it is 
to be observed, that there is a regular annual balance in her 
favour of from 4 to §8,000,000. Last year we exported to 
her only § 21,209,054, and imported § 25,458,975. With 
respect to tobacco, her entire consumption of the article 
Irom all'the world, is only 14,000 hogsheads per annum— 
and our cotton is almost as indispensably necessary to her, 
as food for her population. The whole amount of our do¬ 
mestic exports to Great Britain and France last year, cot¬ 
ton and tobacco excepted, was, to the former kingdom, 
§ 1,709,122, and to the latter, § 276,797. The tobacco ex¬ 
ported to both nations, amounted to only § 3,602,356. 

There are important considerations connected with 
this subject, deeply interesting to such members of your 
honourable bodies as are engaged in agriculture ; more es¬ 
pecially, for a reason which will appear in the sequel, to 
those devoted to the culture of cotton. There is too great 
a proportion of our citizens employed in agricultural pur¬ 
suits. At the last census the agriculturists formed 83 per 
cent of the entire population. The proportion has not de¬ 
creased since. Hence the demands of the markets, foreign 
and domestic, do not keep pace with the increase of pro¬ 
duction. While our means of producing a surplus for ex¬ 
portation are constantly increasing, the foreign markets 
have been diminishing. So completely and unprecedent¬ 
edly have they fallen off, that of most of our staples, ex¬ 
cept cotton, we export less in quantity than we did in 1790, 
even before the flames of war spread throughout Europe, 
though our population has nearly trebled since that time, 
[See table A.] Notwithstanding this reduction of exports, 
all the markets in the world, into which our produce is re¬ 
ceived, are almost constantly glutted with it—the demand 
is slow—the prices reduced—our merchants suffer heavy 
losses—agriculture languishes—and the resources of the 
country are blighted by our policy. The average for two 
years, 1800 and 1801, of the domestic exports of those of 
our citizens not engaged in the culture of cotton, (about 
5,000,000 souls,) was §35,787,043. The domestic ex¬ 
ports of the same description of citizens in 1826, (about 
10,000,000,) was §28,030,448. Thus the melancholy fact 
appears, that while our population increases in an unexam¬ 
pled ratio, the quantity and value of our exports general¬ 
ly, cotton excepted, decrease. This sufficiently accounts 
for the occasional depressions of the prosperity of a coun¬ 
try possessed of unexampled advantages, and proves the 
pernicious nature of our policy. A retrospect of a few 
years will shed strong light on the results of that policy. 
The extreme depression of manufactures from 1816 to 1822, 
drove thousands and tens of thousands of manufacturers 
to farming. Thus was that branch of industry overstock¬ 
ed by the conversion of so many customers into rivals. 


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Hence thousands of acres, where the climate and soil per¬ 
mitted, were converted from tillage and pasturage into 
cotton and tobacco plantations. The planting of tobacco 
was soon overstocked—and cotton was substituted for that 
article. Hence the enormous increase of the export of 
cotton, notwithstanding the great and steady increase 
of the domestic consumption. The export of upland cotton 
was more than doubled in four years from 1819 to 1823. 
In the former year it was 80,013,843 lbs. and in the latter, 
161,586,582 lbs. And the proceeds of the latter quantity 
fell short of those of the former. Nothing can more incon- 
trovertibly prove the utter impolicy of our system, as re¬ 
gards the southern states, than this obvious and perni¬ 
cious result of depressing manufactures and farming, and 
thus unduly increasing the production of cotton. To this 
source may be fairly traced the ruinous reduction of the 
price of that valuable staple, and all the depression that 
has prevailed for years in the cotton-growing states. 

Total export and proceeds of Sea Island and Upland Cotton for 1819 and 

1823. 

1819 - - lbs. 87,997,045 - - §21,081,763 

1823 - - 173,723,270 - - 20,445,520 

A candid view of the preceding facts, will satisfy every 
unbiased mind, that the conversion of 150,000 cultivators 
of cotton into farmers—and of double the number of 
farmers into mechanics and manufacturers, would pro¬ 
duce the most salutary effects on the general prosperity 
of the country, to an incalculable extent. 

Here we respectfully close the arguments in favour of the 
system we advocate, with the hope that our facts and in¬ 
ductions will irresistibly prove the soundness of the maxim 
of Adam Smith, that “ whatever tends to diminish in any 
country , the number of artificers and manufacturers , tends 
to diminish the home market , the most important of all mar¬ 
kets for the rude produce of the land , and thereby stillfurther 
to discourage agriculture .” And hence it clearly follows, 
that it is the interest of the agriculturists to increase the 
number of artificers and manufacturers, in order “ to in¬ 
crease the home market.” 

Besides the growers of wool, and the manufacturers of 
woollen goods, there are various other descriptions of our 
fellow citizens, whose case requires further legislative pro¬ 
tection. Instead of any enumeration on our part, we re¬ 
spectfully refer to the recommendations of the Harrisburg 
Convention, which will be submitted to your considera¬ 
tion, and which we fully approve. 


( A. ) 

Exports from the United States of Flour, Wheat, &c. for 1790 and 1826. 




1790. 

1826. 

Increase. 

Decrease. 

Flour 

barrels 

724,623 

857,820 

123,197 


Wheat 

bushels 

1,124,456 

45,166 


1,079,290 

Indian corn 

bushels 

2,102,137 

505,381 


1,596,756 

Shingles 

No. 

67,331,115 

71,991,000 

4,660,885 


Tobacco 

hhds. 

118,460 

64,098 


54,362 

Staves 

feet 

36,402,301 

28,193,000 


8,209,301 

Rice 

tierces 

100,845 

111,063 

10,218 


Indigo 

lbs. 

612,119 

5,289 


606,830 

Naval stores 

bbls. 

122,777 

96,157 


26,620 

Spirits 

galls. 

370,331 

212,970 


157,361 


Submitting the premises to the serious consideration of your honourable bodies, your memorialists pray you will 
afford such relief as the pressing necessity of the case requires. 


September 20, 1827. 






























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